Sad Stuff

5-Year-Old Lives Several Days With Mom's Body
Woman Died Of Bacterial Meningitis

POSTED: 6:58 pm EST February 13,

FRUITLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Authorities in Muskegon County, Mich., said a 5-year-old girl took care of herself for days while she was home alone with her dead mother.

Police discovered the body of 39-year-old Tina Tietz on the couch of her Fruitland Township home on Sunday afternoon after a concerned friend called 911.

Preliminary autopsy results indicate that she died from bacterial meningitis.

Police also found the woman's daughter Marissa. She had been rummaging the house for food for an unknown number of days. The family dog was tied up inside.

The concerned friend last spoke with the mother eight days earlier when Tietz complained of a headache and ear pain. She said she went to the woman's home and heard the dog barking and the child crying, saying, "Mama's sleeping, Mama's sleeping."

Marissa was examined at a hospital and is now in the temporary custody of the Michigan Department of Human Services. The dog was taken to an animal-rescue organization.